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(RNS) An 84-year-old nun was sentenced to nearly three years in prison on Tuesday (Feb. 18) for breaking into a Tennessee nuclear facility in July 2012.
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(RNS) So here we go again. It's that time of year _ Lent, when many Christians give something up. Often it's food, although my mom told me when I was a kid that giving up vegetables doesn't count.
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Adelle Banks, Religion News Service's production editor and national reporter, visited the Rejoice School of Ballet, a faith-based nonprofit in Nashville, Tenn., during a November multimedia boot camp with the Freedom Forum's Diversity Institute. Video by Adelle Bank...
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Omid Safi - What Would Muhammad Do?

a little less (presidential) religion talk and a whole lot more action

This election has seen an extraordinary amount of coverage of Romney and Obama’s religious convictions.
We have had lengthy discussions about Romney’s Mormon faith, and how evangelicals have had to contort themselves to accommodate a Mormon faith that until very recently they considered heretical.

I don't want to hear about candidates' faith in God.
I don’t want to know about the religious faith they profess—or do not.

I want to know how that faith (or lack thereof) leads them to treat all of God's children.
I want to know how that faith (or lack thereof) leads them to live in harmony with all of God's creation.

We live in a nation where just about half of our citizens experience poverty at some point in their life.
We live in a world where over a billion of human beings live on a dollar a day.
We live in a world where environmental catastrophe is around the corner.

If these two men profess the Christian faith, I want to know how they plan to embody Christ’s teachings to care for “the least of these.”

I don’t want to just hear about how Romney will not lower taxes on the super-duper-super rich, or on Obama only talking about the middle class.

I want to hear about the poor who are working and don’t have enough to live on.
I want to hear about the environment, and how rising waters around the world will put tens of millions of people in danger in places like Bangladesh.

I want to hear about those in Pakistan and Yemen, the “non-persons” of history who die under American drone wars. These too are still the children of the same Living God. They are nameless and faceless to us, but they have names and faces, and are loved by their families.

As much of I appreciate (and have contributed) to the coverage of sweet and courageous Malalai Yousafzai in Pakistan, what about the thousands of other Malalai girls in Iraq and Afghanistan who have died under US occupation?

What about the Malalai girls and boys here in our own country, whose live under the cruelest of depravation in the richest country in the history of the world.

I actually do not mind having a Christian President—provided that President would actually embody the teachings of Christ, and care for the “Least of These.”

And the King will answer and say to them:
“Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.”
--Word of the Lord, According to the Gospel of St. Matthew 25:40.

I want to know what these candidates are going to do to clothe those who are naked, feed those who are hungry, shelter those who are homeless, and provide a home for those who live under occupation.

I am less concerned with whether they call themselves Christians, and more concerned with whether they will behave Christ-like.

Comments

Daryush
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Oct 22, 2012
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4:09pm

My dear friend,
Unfortunately I am sure you are not going to hear a word about “them”. Because “they” do not have anyone to advocate for them, or support the candidates on their behalf. The sad thing and the realty is, when they get lifted, we all get lifted with them, because they are on the BOTTOM. It does not take a structural engineer to figure that out. Unfortunately we have lost the wisdom of the heart that can guide us toward a true spirituality that is not based on propaganda and loud speakers. A spirituality that whispers rather than screams, a spirituality that unites rather than separates, a spirituality that accepts rather than condemns. Without opening to our heart, individually, as a nation, and globally, I am not sure how much hope if any is left for us!

Steve
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Oct 22, 2012
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5:34pm

Let us also remember the truly least of these, the nameless unborn who are condemned to “non-person” status by our society. They are 100% vulnerable, and therefore Almighty God, who assures us that he is closest to the least of this world, is with them. Thousands of our brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, and fellow human beings are crucified every day, and Christ is re-crucified along with them. “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you…”

Ellen
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Oct 22, 2012
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5:51pm

Here here! Bravo.

Fazel Subian
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Oct 22, 2012
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9:34pm

GOD is understood through Acronyms, ‘Avaricious Evolving in Delusion’ . So they are correct. PLEASE REFER ; ACRONYMS> http://www.fazelsubian.com

Omid Safi is a Professor of Islamic Studies at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, specializing in contemporary Islamic thought and classical Islam. An award-winning teacher and speaker, his most recent book, "Memories of Muhammad," looks at the biography and legacy of the Prophet Muhammad.
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